Introduction

 The financial and operational aspects of an airline’s way of doing business are obviously of critical importance. In order to have a sustainable operation, an airline must have a sound financial base and on an operational level it should strive to offer a consistent service which will make it a favourable option for the potential air traveller. One of the deciding factors for travellers choosing one airline over another, particularly for corporate and business travellers is the ‘on-time’ performance of an airline.

 If a CEO were to receive a report stating that the airline is achieving or exceeding 96 percent  of  ‘on  time’  departures  would  obviously  be  a  source  of  great  satisfaction, however the more critical aspect the CEO should ponder is how this stellar performance is being achieved. In the case of excellent ‘on-time’ performance this may not necessarily be as a consequence of the efforts of the actual airline’s perfect safety record, but could be purely as a direct result excellent ground handlers and staff which service the aircraft on the ground. Furthermore it could be that there are latent failures which have yet to manifest themselves at this point in time.

 Johnson and Botting (1999), using Reason’s model, argue that latent failures as identified by Reason (1997) can be a direct consequence of Organisational Factors. In the instance of the CEO taking for granted that ‘on-time’ performance and consistent safety record will remain in tact without any other managerial/organisational effort, will in time manifest itself as a latent failure. Over time managerial deficiencies in setting solid managerial policies and actions within the organisation will sooner or later cause an ‘organisational accident’. For an airline, to suffer an ‘organisational accident’ could potentially lead to catastrophic consequences.

 One of the great and potentially fatal misguided assumptions that an airline CEO can make  is  to  assume  that  since  the  carrier  has  had  no  incidents  and  is  running  all operational aspects smoothly, that the airline is in fact a ‘safe’ airline. Andrew O’Connor of O’Connor Airways holds the view that ‘You have to start every day believing that an accident could happen’ (Ostinga, 1999). It should be with this mind set that an airline on an organisational level should function, in particular an airline’s CEO. Andrew O’Connor elaborates further by arguing that airline can have an accident free record just out of pure luck and circumstances. A clean history with no occurrences does not necessarily equate to a ‘safe airline’.

 The operational efficiencies and performance of an airline such as ‘on-time’ departures can be greatly attributed to how they treat the issue of safety and the implementation of a safety program. It can be seen that having an attitude of ‘safety first’ which permeates throughout the whole airline’s organisational and operational structure. Adopting certain strategies which have as their core focus safety and effectively managing potential risks will be the major contributor to a carrier’s overall performance.

 Implementation of a ‘Safety Management System’ (SMS)

 The SMS is by definition a systematic management of the risks associated with running an airline. This is all encompassing and includes all operational aspects from flight operations, ground operations and aircraft engineering. SMS will facilitate the carrier in being able to achieve a high level of safety performance. Furthermore it sets out the company’s safety policy.

 Accidents in an airline are expensive and have both direct and indirect costs associated with such accidents. A key benefit by adopting the SMS is that it may in fact avoid or prevent such accidents from occurring. In relative terms and from a financial perspective, the set up of the SMS may initially involve quite some time to set up and establish, is actually not too costly for an airline to obtain. Once implemented it can be maintained and used throughout the organisation as an effective tool for managing safety and preventing risks.

 The main SMS principles are:

 •     commitment to safety

 •     managing safety

 •     evaluating safety performance

The SMS helps an airline to identify the ‘human factor’ which can potentially pose a risk and how to take the necessary action to address the issue at hand. Furthermore the SMS can be used as a foundation which will help to foster a ‘Safety Culture’ within the airline. Such a culture is integral if an airline is to have a safe operational output. Experience has shown that about 80 percent of all aircraft accidents are now primarily due to these ‘human factors’  and the key challenge is to understand and improve the ‘human performance’ which has the greatest potential for enhancing aviation safety.

Cultivating and developing a ‘Safety Culture’ within the airline

 The SMS will be unable to achieve its desired outcomes with the adoption and implementation of a culture which has as prime focus safety. Reason (1997) identifies that such a culture should be:

•     informed

•     reporting

•     just

•     flexible

•     learning

Reason further elaborates that these characteristics form a culture of trust and informedness. Trust is needed to form the basis that  people are actually trying their best and informedness is that people are actually knowing what is going on thus lessening the chance of making mistakes.

Using Westrum’s (1993) work as a basis, Reason informs that an organisation can move towards a positive safety culture by first identifying what type of culture it currently has. An organisation can be deemed as pathological with no safety system policy to one which is proactive and generative when it comes to safety. It is only at these last two stages that an organisation can be deemed to posses a true ‘safety culture’. The move towards these stages should be incremental and evolutionary from one stage to the other.

 Consequences of failing to adopt SMS and implement a Safety Culture

 There are grave implications for an airline which fails to treat safety as of paramount importance which go beyond just the deterioration of ‘on-time departure’. The consequences may prove fatal, such as the loss of lives in a crash. There are many examples of fatal accidents which prove this point, however one pervasively does it that of the ValueJet flight 592. The DC9 which crashed into the Florida Everglades was mainly the result of ValueJet not having an appropriate SMS in relation to the loading of chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold (NTSB, 1996). ValueJet failed to have adequate  procedural  and  systematic  steps  in  the  manner  with  which  to  deal  with hazardous cargo. One of the key finding from the NTSB was that the airline had a gross inadequate SMS and virtually non-existent safety culture.

 Determinations and Conclusion

 It is imperative that the safety professionals of an airline understand, appreciate and realise that a systems based approach is the most suitable way to implement the SMS and achieve a safety culture (Sargeant, 2004 course notes). Under such an approach the individual is regarded as being a component of a particular organisation or system. The approach recognises that human error results from organisational or workplace conditions that provide such errors. Breakdowns in safety, be they major or minor, should be viewed as indicators of the overall ‘safety health’ of an organisation rather than the failure of individuals.

 It is evident at this stage that the way an airline operates and functions on a safe and reliable manner can be attributed to the collaborative initiatives taken by the organisation as  whole  to  minimise  risks,  be  able  to  forecast  potential  risks/hazards and  take  the appropriate action and to have an ongoing commitment to safety. From a CEO’s perspective, if the airline reported 96 percent ‘on-time’ departures and an accident free history, and these are achieved as a direct consequence of the airline having adopted these safety initiatives, under these circumstances then receiving such a report would definitely be of great satisfaction.

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